It is typically necessary to remove interior floor panels of an aircraft cabin during maintenance and/or refurbishment operations. Removal of such aircraft floor panels will thereby necessarily require removal of the sealant between adjacent panels and the reinstallation of fresh sealant when the panels are reinstalled.
Conventional sealants for the aerospace industry typically include curable two-part sealant materials, such as polysulfide sealants. These sealant materials must be handled and installed carefully in the gaps between floor panels by skilled labor. For example, the sealant components (e.g., base sealant and catalyst) must be mixed carefully to ensure proper cure, applied to clean surfaces and have only a limited amount of working time before curing. The installation of conventional curable sealant materials therefore generally requires substantial preparation prior to use, such as masking adjacent surfaces to the gap to be sealed with tape so to prevent excess material from contamination of such panel surfaces. In addition, several precautions must be taken during installation including the use of solvents (e.g., acetone) and ensuring that suitable protective garments are provided for the workmen installing the sealant, e.g., disposable cloths, gloves and the like.
The installation of conventional aerospace sealants therefore tend to be very labor intensive and thereby costly. It is towards providing a more efficient gap sealant procedure that the embodiments disclosed herein are directed.